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Comment by Guest  24th March 2010 Dear British Iraqi, please ignore these racist morons. You're 100 times more articulate than they are anyway.

Comment by Guest  24th March 2010 Sick of hearing about this now, no it should not have happened if they are that bother about THEIR COUNTRY THE GO BACK! had enough, worsley.

Comment by Guest  24th March 2010 You cannot be British and Iraqi at the same time. If you are from Iraq then you are Iraqi. If I was born in Hong Kong I would still be British - I would not be Chinese.

Comment by Guest  22nd March 2010 Thank you Swinton On behalf of the majority of the British Iraqis in the North of England, would like to take the opportunity and thank Greater Manchester Police, local authorities and Vanguard Storage Services Limited in Salford for their support in facilitating, granting a permission and securing a venue for the Iraqi High Electoral Commission at a very short notice to hold the 2nd Iraqi Out of Country Voting (OCV) poll centre at the Newtown Mill in Swinton, which allowed more than 6000 British Iraqis settled in the North to travel and cast their votes between 5th-7th March 2010. The British Iraqi community is extremely grateful to the local community who had tolerated the sudden influx of voters especially on Sunday 7th March, and we realise this was a weekend for many workers and elderly in the area to bear the noise of the crowd, which is expected in such big events. However, without the ongoing British government involvement and support to the democratic change in Iraq to free the Iraqi people from the atrocities of the despotic regime of Saddam in 2003, this ecstatic event of free election for more than 20 millions Iraqi voters inside and outside the country would have not been possible. We as a community feel that the British authorities and the host society in Britain had generously extended their hands to the Iraqi people, and we owe it to this country to genuinely serve and support future British Iraqi bilateral and trade ties. Sincerely Yours, Pround British _ Iraqi

Comment by Guest  8th March 2010 They can't debate you because they struggle to spell basic words and string sentences together. All they can do is paste huge chunks of text from the BNP website.

Comment by Guest  8th March 2010 i just cannot stand by and watch this uneducated drivel roll across my screen. Firstly, this is NOT a race issue. The people who voted in this election were Iraqi citizens who had EVERY right to be in this country - what about the hundreds of WHITE ex-pats in Australia or Spain or Dubai? Are they not allowed to vote in the UK? Of course they are. Secondly, the parking issues were NOT the fault of the Iraqis - more the fault of the organisers who didn't think it through. Bad management, that's all. Thirdly, none of 'our' money has been spent on this. This is FACT. Finally, what I'd love is for the ill-educated, ill-informed right-wing nutjobs who populate this thread to actively engage in this debate. Counter all my arguments with reasoned logic of your own. I genuinely want to have an open and honest debate about these issues - to do a bit of myth-busting - but if all you can spout is racist nonsense, then I can't. That's very difficult, because it *looks* like they've won, but you can't have a reasoned argument with someone who swears the sky is yellow when it is blue.

Comment by Guest  8th March 2010 Sadly I too was in Swinton at the weekend and saw pure hatred and bile directed at the Iraqi's by men old enough to know better, swigging lager and shouting obscenities at women and children. Makes you proud to be British doesn't it?. Two issues, these people are entitled to vote whilst living in this country on the future of their country, same as ex-pats abroad can vote. The other issue is that who ever organised the polling station location was sadly misguided, a narrow road off a main road in Swinton, no adequate parking facilities, no toilet facilities, and why were local residents who I have every sympathy for not contacted sooner about this temporay polling station. Questions should be answered, but I still say behaviour of certain people was disgraceful.

Comment by Guest  8th March 2010 I was alarmed at the sheer hatred directed towards the Iraqis from the locals, who i have to say did nothing for my first impressions of them, other than ill-educated,one-eyed racists. At first i put it down to blind ignorance and racist views, but there seemed to be bigoted remarks made by every other passing pedestrian and motorist. They seemed to see the waving of an Iraqi flag as a challenge, to which the retort was waving of an english flag. There were kids waving these too, although i suspect kids waving flags is entirely innocent compared to the sinister use of the English flag employed by BNP-voting adults. When I see the BNP or any other political affiliates using MY flag to promote their racist views, it makes me sick. There were some white people there on Saturday that made me ashamed to be white, listening to their vile, uneducated bile being shouted from the roadsides. The sooner they go back to their caves, the better for all concerned.

Comment by Guest  8th March 2010 I was in the Swinton area over the weekend and whilst their was a large amount of disruption in the form of traffic congestion and the like, there was very little actual disruption caused by the voters themselves. I found the majority of the Iraqis to be polite and friendly, and the whole idea of voting was obviously very important to them. Yes the site of this polling station was not ideal, i seem to remember the Iraqis voted at the Bowlers centre in Trafford Park a few years ago, that was far more suitable.

Comment by DavidHenry ( member )  7th March 2010 It is unfortunate the local residents had to suffer noise and disruption to their usually quiet Saturday, and yes maybe a more suitable location could have been chosen - but these people have every right to be able to vote in their elections here just as Americans, Europeans and pretty much any other foreign national has - it is called Democracy. I think you'll find our troops and citizens overseas (including Iraq and Afghanistan) have the opportunity to vote in OUR elections overseas so the arguments against these election even happening are completely hypocritical and without reason - other than perhaps misguided prejudice.

Comment by Guest  7th March 2010 david henry you are a buffoon and so are you 'comment by guest'. can you remind me again which country are we living in ! if you want to support the iraqi community go and live in iraq.

Comment by Guest  7th March 2010 I am certainly not a Salford leftist, however I do support freedom, liberty and democracy for all and as such the Iraqi people are now able to excercise this right after many years of fear and oppression. By your comment regarding 'praising the multiculti(sic)agenda' I am assuming that you do not support equality and diversity but have a differing agenda and that you do not recognise the significance of this occasion for the Iraqis. The fact that this election is able to take place is in part down to the Armed Forces and their courage and bravery, so please do not besmirch the Iraqi people nor HM Forces.

Comment by Editor ( member )  7th March 2010 Please note we only remove items which violate our Contents and Comments Policy or which promote organisations, or their associates, which have been banned from SalfordOnline

Comment by Guest  7th March 2010 There's quite a big discussion about it here in case you didn't see it: www.salfordonline.com/localnews.php?func=viewdetails&vdetails=18784

Comment by Guest  7th March 2010 Notice that once again Salford leftistsonline deem to promote only the comments praising the multiculti agenda, any opposing comments have been erased, thats why there is only TWO comments on this hot topic. Shame on you.

Comment by Guest  7th March 2010 David - I could'nt agree with you more; after so many years of oppression, this is surely an event to celebrate.

Comment by DavidHenry ( member )  7th March 2010 Good on the people of Iraq and the Iraqi community living in Britain. I'm glad all the scaremongering by certain right-wing groups failed to disrupt the event.

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